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We’ve been so busy this week getting things together before I leave for a month in Colorado. In the middle of it all, we had a funeral, the dryer broke, and the garden was getting out of control. I still had boxes of fabric in the family room that needed to go downstairs. We grabbed the bull by the horns and started working on the dryer. We went to a place in town that sells appliance parts a bought a couple of things to try. They didn’t work, and without giving it much thought, we put the darned thing back together. Mr. FixIt took the parts back yesterday and got the one we needed. He is so kind to let me help when we do these projects, and I learn a lot. YouTube is irreplaceable! We got the dryer working in tiptop shape, and I started catching up on the laundry.
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/uploads/2026/89604d0991.jpg\")
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It had been a couple of days since I was out in the garden, and I couldn’t believe my eyes! The tomato plants shot up at least two feet! Some were leaning way over, so I tied them up. I even had to tie them to the deck railing. I picked four tomatoes last night and more will be coming soon. They taste so good, but we aren’t getting very big ones yet. I try to keep the suckers trimmed but when they grow this fast and the foliage is so thick, I don’t catch them till the plant has already put a lot of energy into their growth. I’ve gardened most of my life, but I still can’t turn out stellar produce. Yet I keep trying!
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Four more sleeps and I get to see my Colorado family. Other than video chats, I only get to see them in person once a year. That’s why I’m staying for a month! What will Mr. FixIt and I do without each other???
\n\n\n💜
\n\n\n“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,” Colossians 3:23 ESV
\n\n\n***Gratitude Journal*** Today, I am grateful for mechanical abilities and a husband who’s happy to show me how to fix things. And…that we didn’t need to buy a new dryer!
\n\n\n#HomeRepairs, #FixingThings, #Appliances
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-06-28T04:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/06/28/how-does-your-garden-grow.html", "tags": ["West Virginia","Homestead","Country Life"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/06/22/hot-days-cool-nights-and.html", "title": "Hot Days, Cool Nights, and the Joy of Mowing the Homestead", "content_html": "\n![\"\"](\"https://i0.wp.com/www.marshmallowranch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/IMG_3476-rotated.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1\")
We’re firmly planted in the rhythm of summer. Firecracker hot days…blessedly cool nights…and mowing our five acres under a golf umbrella. I have a history of heat exhaustion. Every time it happens, the next time it is quicker and harder. I’ve experimented with various methods to prevent it from happening and have finally figured it out.
\n\n\nHere are my secrets to keeping safe in a heat wave, even when working outside.
\n\n\nKnow the signs of heat-related illness:
\n\n\nHeat Exhaustion
\n\n\nHeat Cramps:
\n\n\nHeat Syncope:
\n\n\nHeat Rash:
\n\n\nHeat Stroke:
\n\n\nOne wouldn’t necessarily think mowing in this kind of heat is joyful, but it’s all a matter of perspective. For me, mowing is a kind of meditation—a time to think without interruption and focus on what’s growing in the pollinator gardens. I discovered several turtle nests in the pathways and edges of the gardens. And I spooked a fawn that mama had hidden amongst the tall grasses. It very likely could be the same fawn I rescued from the flood waters a couple of weeks ago. If it is, it’s much bigger now, yet it still has its spots.
\n\n\nI was sure I would get to bake yesterday, but when I was finished mowing, I was finished for the day. A shower and ham sandwiches for supper were all I had left in me. I hope you are staying safe in the heat. It’s only going to get worse in the coming days, so be careful out there!
\n\n\n💜
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFor the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits. James 1:11
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***Gratitude Journal*** Today, I am grateful for this beautiful place that I share with Mr. FixIt. There is peace here. It is filled with the sounds of birds. Animals dart in and out of the pollinator gardens and the hedgerow beyond. And when it has been properly groomed, there is no comparison to its beauty. God lives here.\n\n", "date_published": "2025-06-22T04:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/06/22/hot-days-cool-nights-and.html", "tags": ["Peace","Homestead","Country Life"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/06/06/the-new-flour-mill-arrived.html", "title": "The New Flour Mill Arrived!", "content_html": "\n
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I’d love to say I did an unboxing video and demonstrated how to grind the grain into flour. I DID do that…I just didn’t hit RECORD! Argh! I didn’t catch it till I was finished and felt like an idiot. It was hot in the kitchen, so I spent the afternoon lying in front of the fan, reading about my new toy and watching a baking class on YouTube given by Sue Becker…the Queen of FMF. This course is over five hours long, so I have to watch it in segments. You can watch it here if you like.
\n\n\nI’m happy to report that all the parts and papers were in the box. I also have Sue Becker’s book The Essential Home-Ground Flour Book. I know it seems like a lot to do when I’ve been baking bread for sixty years. Baking with home-ground flour is a different animal. And since a significant amount of time and money is invested, I want to become proficient in it. (Cue the perfectionist!)
\n\n\nEverything I’ve read about the Nutrimill Classic says to grind two cups of wheat berries, then throw the flour away. Ohhhh, that was so hard to do. I paid good money for those grains. It gave me a chance to see and feel the flour, though. I know the next time I run the mill, it will be set on a finer grind because the bran and germ were noticeable. It felt a little gritty.
\n\n\nThis is a learning curve…not only grinding the grains but also getting the camera right…not to mention a whole new way of baking. Videos are coming soon, I promise. It’s a little harder to get excited about baking bread when it’s 90°…out AND in! Before I know it…I’ll be mowing again. I love summer!
\n\n\n💜
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFor day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
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my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah Psalm 32:4
***Gratitude Journal*** Today, I am grateful to have the equipment that eases my bread-baking journey.\n\n", "date_published": "2025-06-06T04:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/06/06/the-new-flour-mill-arrived.html", "tags": ["Health","Baking","Homestead"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/06/04/what-happens-when-the-last.html", "title": "What Happens When the Last Tree Falls?", "content_html": "\n
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When my grandma died in 1999, something had to be done. She was widowed in 1971 and was left to care for the farm and my uncle. He had a developmental disability and had lived at home all his life. Grandma was a strong woman and did what she had to do to take care of things. Toward the end of her life, an aunt (a widow herself) came to live with them and then stayed on to care for her beloved brother.
\n\n\nThe farm was left to another uncle to see that the family was taken care of. To do that, he had to have part of the farm logged. They never told me about it, and when I came for my annual visit and went for my usual hike back on the hill, I stepped into the clearing and…the trees were GONE! It was a punch in the gut, and I dropped to my knees and cried.
\n\n\nThanks for reading Kneading Faith! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
\n\n\nFirst, no one owed me an explanation. I was just one of the grandchildren. Second, I understood that forests need to be maintained to remain healthy. But this was “clear-cut”…the hallowed grounds of my youth had been laid bare. I know it had to be done…I just wasn’t prepared for the shock of seeing it like that.
\n\n\nFast forward to today. I remarried in 2018 and now live with my husband on the five-acre homestead he has owned since 1979. I’ve spent most of my adult life praying to live on a piece of ground such as this in my home state of West Virginia. I’ve always wanted to be a farm girl. Our land is flat and surrounded by wooded hills and creeks. I’ve come to know each tree. The black walnut trees that sporadically grace us with an abundance of nuts. The pear trees are even more sporadic in their production of juicy fruit. Tall sycamore trees whose leaves are as big as a dinner plate and whose naked white limbs reach out like ghosts in the winter woods.
\n\n\nIt’s an idyllic little paradise here. I’ve come to take our views for granted, I’m afraid. Then one morning last week, I awoke to the sound of a chainsaw. Not unusual to hear people cutting up firewood or trimming fallen branches. But this was different. There is an intensity in the sound of a chainsaw that is felling a tree. It’s going after it in a way that means business. Then…the unmistakable cracking of the last bit of wood that’s held the tree up for decades. It crashed to the ground with an unceremonious thud.
\n\n\nMy heart hurts.
\n\n\nOne after another, after another. The trees came down. Then the heavy equipment came in to haul the trees-turned-logs away. They came back the next day and the next. It’s been five days now, and it’s clear now. They are logging the hill that has been our beautiful view at the end of the far field. I feel the sting of tears just writing these words. The beloved trees that bring us the promise of new life every spring, when we begin to see the first touch of green. The beautiful trees that offer their glorious golds and yellows as the backdrop to mark the end of another season.
\n\n\nIt’s like a train wreck…you don’t want to watch, but you can’t take your eyes away. One must have the proper attitude about trees on another person’s property. They are a cash crop to that person….a savings account, as it were. We move with the rhythms of nature here in the country. Animals are slaughtered for food. The ground is plowed for gardens. It’s a shock to the system when something you took for granted gets yanked out from under you.
\n\n\nWe’ll adjust. What choice do we have? And eventually…the bare hillside will become verdant with new growth, and the circle of life begins yet again. In the meantime…
\n\n\nMy heart hurts.
\n\n\n💔
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHe will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:4 ESV
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***Gratitude Journal*** Today, I am grateful that I can learn to adapt to change while still honoring the pain it causes me.\n\n", "date_published": "2025-06-04T04:45:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/06/04/what-happens-when-the-last.html", "tags": ["Growth","Change","Insight","Homestead","Country Life"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/05/28/failure-or-lessons-learned.html", "title": "Failure? Or Lessons Learned?", "content_html": "\n
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I’ve been baking with Fresh Milled Flour for the last month or so. I’ve tried different recipes and different grain combinations and have never had a flat-out failure till yesterday. It was really humid and rained all day. The kitchen was cool. The flour was milled four weeks ago, and I hated to waste it, but it was past its prime, and I tempted fate. I followed the recipe to a T. I could never seem to get enough flour in it to pull into a ball, and I didn’t want to overdo it. Consequently, the dough was loose and sticky. I let the dough rise in the pans for the suggested time, but when I went back to look at it, I knew it was way over proofed. It was literally flat and oozing over the rims.
\n\n\nThanks for reading Kneading Faith! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
\n\n\nI nearly threw it away, but I figured baking it wasn’t going to cost me anything but time and a little bit of gas. So, in it went. When the internal temperature hit 195̊, I pulled the sad-looking bread out of the oven and was so disappointed. My first thought was to throw the whole mess out. Then I thought, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I broke the cardinal rule and cut into a warm loaf, slathered it with butter and homemade plum jam, and it was surprisingly delectable! Of course, in the next day or so, it may end up hard and dry. Perhaps I will make a bread pudding or a French Toast Casserole.
\n\n\nMy fresh milled flour is gone now. I decided last week to buy a grain mill of my own. Wouldn’t you know it…I’m always late to the party, so mills are scarce as hen’s teeth to find. I finally decided to buy a manual mill online. Being the fickle woman that I am, I decided over the weekend that the manual mill was probably not going to work for me. My 72-year-old shoulders and wrists weren’t going to like all that extra work. I hadn’t even received it yet when I called and asked how to return it. They were wonderful, and even though I’m going to have to absorb the shipping, I knew I’d made the right decision. Especially after it arrived yesterday morning, weighing 36.5 pounds! I don’t have a sturdy table to bolt it too, so I would have to mount it to a board and add another 3-5 pounds to the total weight. Then I would have to haul it back and forth from storage every time I want to use it.
\n\n\nThere was a time when I would chastise myself over all of this. Thankfully, 72 years have given me the wisdom to know these mistakes aren’t failures…they are lessons. I’ll have fresh flour the next time I bake. I’ll try a different recipe. I won’t put a pan of hot water in the oven (that’s turned off) to boost the rise since we’re heading into summer. I won’t wait 20 minutes to check the proof. Self-recrimination doesn’t get me anywhere, but I can learn from lessons every single day with my dignity intact and a continuing desire to become a better baker.
\n\n\nᓚᘏᗢ
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBut he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
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but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4 ESV
***Gratitude Journal*** Today, I am grateful for the patience it takes to truly learn a craft that supports my family in eating the way God intended us to.\n\n\n\n\n", "date_published": "2025-05-28T04:45:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/05/28/failure-or-lessons-learned.html", "tags": ["Farm Life","Baking","In the Kitchen","Homestead"] }, { "id": "http://mashmallowranch.micro.blog/2025/05/24/through-the-chill-and-the.html", "title": "Through the Chill and the Rain", "content_html": "\n
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I believe this is a drone fly. It’s still a great pollinator.
\n\n\nMay seems to have been cooler and wetter than I remember. Or...maybe my rememberer isn't so good anymore. We are almost through May already. My Colorado peeps planted their tomatoes this week because they think…maybe they are safe from frost. I remember the first summer we lived in the mountains outside Glenwood Springs. I plowed a huge garden in the abandoned horse pasture and planted everything I could think of. Rows and rows of corn, tomatoes, beans, carrots…I was an earth mama on a mission! I envisioned canning all this yummy food for my family and feeling self-sufficient. That was the dream. The reality hit hard.
\n\n\nI was born and raised here in West Virginia. My dad and my grandma grew wonderful gardens. It seemed like they just plowed and threw the seeds out, and everything grew. I was young and unaware of the hard work that went into growing a successful garden. But I was hopeful when I marked out that 30x40 piece of unbroken ground.
\n\n\nI think I planted everything in mid-May, just like I was told to. I hoed and weeded and watered incessantly. I strung tin pans on twine all the way around the garden. The folks who lived up the mountain laughed and laughed. Apparently, this was a West Virginia thing. In Colorado, they put up electric fences. Or frequent farmers’ markets. Anyway, everything was coming up beautifully. My tomato plants had little baby tomatoes on them. The green beans were flowering and would soon grow long fingers of goodness. The corn was up. I thinned the carrots. Things were going well, and I left Hubby #2 to hold down the garden while I took our daughter to visit her grandma in late June.
\n\n\nOn June 23rd, my husband called and said, “I have some bad news for you. We had a hard freeze, and everything is dead and lying on the ground. I’m so sorry.” I was crushed. So much work…so much time…so much money spent…and for what? It was a lesson learned, and after that, I also frequented the farmers’ market. I might just as well support those who were successful at growing things in the semi-arid elevation in the Rockies.
\n\n\nAfter I moved to West Virginia as a new widow, I yearned to plant a garden again…this time in the rich soil and temperate climate of home. Life’s uncertainties kept me from that goal until Mr. FixIt and I married in 2018. We tried a garden just big enough to plant a few tomatoes, but the ground where we put it wasn’t ideal. After three years of failing, I figured gardening just wasn’t meant to be. That’s when Mr. FixIt built me a beautiful raised bed that I don’t even have to bend over to work on. We only have tomatoes and marigolds in it. I have rhubarb in a big pot along the fence and a couple of tomato plants in another container. I’m feeling pretty accomplished at the moment. It’s not a big garden, but we are in our early seventies now…we don’t need to be putting in a big garden anyway.
\n\n\nI took a walk through the pollinator gardens this morning with my coffee. The field daisies have bloomed, and the pictures don’t do it justice! Little polkadots of white sprinkled over the bright greenish blue of the Kentucky Bluegrass make me smile. I’ve noticed more bird species coming around since I expanded to seventeen pollinator gardens spread out over the five acres. House martins are swirling and diving all around. I must get a Martin house put up. Lots of butterflies flutter by when I’m on my morning walk. I left great swaths of white clover for the honey bees, but we still aren’t seeing many. Lots of bumble bees, wasps, and carpenter bees are out there, so things are still getting pollinated.
\n\n\nAnd here it is…Memorial Day weekend already. I hope you all are safe if you are traveling. Enjoy your gatherings and remember those who gave all in their commitment to protect the downtrodden of the world.
\n\n\nᓚᘏᗢ
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAnd I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 1 Corinthians 2:3
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***Gratitude Journal*** Today, I am grateful for the abundance of beauty that surrounds us as we go about our work on our little homestead.
\n\n", "date_published": "2025-05-24T01:30:00-06:00", "url": "https://marshmallowranch.com/2025/05/24/through-the-chill-and-the.html", "tags": ["Memories","Pollinator Garden","Homestead"] } ] }